FIFTY SHADES OF GRAVY
Hallee Bridgeman, A.K.A. "Hallee the Homemaker" rides the gravy train to triumph and hilarity with her premiere cookbook, revealing the secrets of the penultimate comfort food – gravy.
Fifty Shades of Gravy “ A Christian Gets Saucy!" is a cookbook wrapped in a parody surrounded by a comedy with a tongue firmly inserted into a cheek – but the recipes are deadly serious and may leave readers licking the gravy boat.
Her famous whole food, real food recipes bathe in luxuriant liquid comfort with recipes that are sure to captivate and enslave any audience. Hallee starts with stocks and broths and then explores every shade of gravy you can whip up.
Some recipes are entire meals and some are simple sauces while still others are gravies served alongside a traditional holiday feast.
There are meaty gravies, comfort food gravies, vegan gravies, gluten-free gravies, and even chocolate gravies! For any gravy question you were too ashamed to ask, this saucy Christian shares the answer.
White Gravy vs Brown Gravy
When it comes to comforting yourself with a go-to food, gravy is always at your service. Over the years, a simple thickened meat broth revolutionized into becoming a gravy. Now the gravy is one of the most versatile food items that can be taken alone or can be paired with steaks, mashed potatoes, stews, vegetables, steamed meat, or whatnot. The versatility with gravies is incredible.
Now to your surprise, the gravy comes in various types as well, especially on the basis of colors. White gravy and brown gravy are the two most served gravies in many parts of the world especially America. Both of the white and brown gravies are the thickened mixture of multiple food items that differ mainly in colors. However, apart from the coloration, there are several other differences between white and brown gravy as well.
What Exactly Is A Gravy?
- Gravy is a type of sauce made by thickening meat broth with an adequate amount of corn starch or flour. You simultaneously make gravy when you add the thickening item such as corn starch or flour into your cooking pan.
- Gravies are paired with steaks, potatoes either mashed, or the French fried ones.
- Different recipes require different gravies. You can’t substitute brown gravy with white gravy and vice versa. Let’s look into what white gravy and brown gravy exactly are and how they are made.
![](../../_Media/screen-shot-2021-06-23-at_med-3.png)
What are the 5 Mother Sauces of France?
The five French mother sauces are béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato. Developed in the 19th century by French chef Auguste Escoffier, mother sauces serve as a starting point for a variety of delicious sauces used to complement countless dishes, including veggies, fish, meat, casseroles, and pastas.
Daughter Sauces from Hollandaise
Bavaroise sauce adds horseradish, thyme and cream. Crème Fleurette sauce jazzes things up with crème fraiche. Maltese sauce has orange zest and blood orange juice. Noisette sauce throws in browned butter to the hollandaise.
What Is Brown Gravy And How Is It Made?Brown gravy is usually a brown thickened broth made from ground beef patties paired with mushy items such as mushrooms, mashed potatoes, rice starch or corn starch. Savory items such as onions are also used to add flavors to the meat grounded broth.
A lot of meatloaves grounded with tomato sauce also gives off a high end exceptionally tasty brown gravy.
Brown gravy is prepared with fresh meat fat. The meat usually used is beef because of the brownish color. So brown gravy is a thick and creamy combination of water or beef broth paired up with thickening items such as flour and cornstarch.
- Follow these steps to make a perfectly thick and tasty brown gravy:
- Melt any fat, oil, or butter in a burning pan. Like a Lodge Cast Iron, or Heavy Stainless
- Preferably use butter for brown gravy.
- Add flour or corn starch to the piping butter.Make sure to stir and mix for not more than 2 minutes.
- Add the required amount of beef broth. Whisk until the content binds strongly.
- Keep the broth pouring and whisking actions each after another.
- Pinch pepper and salt.
- Simmer down the gravy for 3 minutes.
- Add heavy cream if you like it. Serve piping hot with your favorite seasonings.
What Is White Gravy And How Is It Made?
On the other hand, the famous country-style white gravy is a combination of milk or cream with meat drippings paired with butter or oil, also with a thickening agent such as flour or cornstarch. White gravy can come by sweet as well while the brown gravy is always savory.
- White gravy is basically a whitish mixture made with mashed potatoes along with white sauce or the fried chicken paste or simply the chicken-fried steak.
- Another type of white gravy stems from buttermilk biscuits, cream, and milk with other flavoring items.
- White gravy has two varieties; a sweet one and a savory one.
- Here is how you make a fresh batch of white gravy:
- Mix equal parts of flour/corn starch and butter in a saucepan over a medium flame.Stir the mixture until they both bind together.
- Melt the butter delicately. Add the BOILED cup of milk into the mixture.Whisk the milk and butter mixture until each lump is smoothened.Use seasonings of your choice and flavor.
- Serve piping hot.